Bar type bottle opener with closure receptacle



1953 H. B. TRIMBLE, 5a., EI'AL 2,

BAR TYPE BOTTLE OPENER WITH CLOSURE RECEPTACLE Filed Oct. 7. 1949 FIG.

llllllllllllllll Ill! 22 INVENTORS HOWARD B. TRIMBLE COBURN D. BERRY 9" ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 18, 1953 BAR TYPE BOTTLE OPENER WITH CLOSURE RECEPTACLE Howard B. Trimble, Sr. and Coburn D. Berry, Nashville, Tenn.

Application October 7, 1949, Serial No. 120,186

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the serving or dispensing of beverages or the like and more particularly to the removal of crimped caps from beverage or other bottles.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the opening of bottled beverages sufficient to quickly supply the demand when crowds are gathered. and, accordingly, tempers have been displayed and pleasant occasions have been marred when the occasion could have been more enjoyable.

At numerous public events where bottled beverages are dispensed it has been customary to remove the crimped caps from bottles of beverage by a bottle opener manually wielded or secured to a support. In either case it is necessary to have a substantial number of the bottle openers and to have them conveniently available. To do so has been a problem, particularly where the equipment was installed for temporary use and subject to occasional or frequent moving.

In addition to the above deficiencies bottle openers of the conventional type have also failed to satisfactorily meet the increasing public demand for improved conditions of sanitation in regard to eating or drinking establishments, whether they be permanent or merely temporary in nature. It has long been common scientific knowledge that disease and sickness are closely associated with filth and insects and that extreme care must be taken to prevent such conditions. Heretofore, with the conventional bottle caps, the motion necessary to pry the crimped caps from the bottles has oftentimes resulted in the splashing of the beverage onto the floor, bar, and surrounding areas, which acted as a powerful magnet to draw insects of all descriptions to them.

Wholly aside from the aspects of public health, the appearance presented by large swarms of insects hovering over counters and fioors covered with spilled beverages and discarded bottle caps has often been sufiicient to cause many patrons to leave such bars or counters with a feeling of repulsion and their thirsts and appetites still unsatiated.

An object of the invention is to overcome the difficulties mentioned and to provide a mechanism by which the crimped caps can be simply and quickly removed from bottles as rapidly as required and at the same time the caps be caught in a manner to be readily collected and removed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an elongated bottle cap remover which will serve to catch moisture or liquid and also serve as a drainage channel or trough for directing liquid to a suitable discharge location from an appropriate support such as a soda fountain, dispensing bar or the like upon which it is adapted to be mounted or secured and which will extend the length thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bottle opener of any desired length by means of which any number of bottle caps may be removed simultaneously by various attendants and with a receptacle below and along the entire length of the same for receiving the caps and other debris, with such receptacle or channel having a spring actuated end closure through which the contents of the receptacle may be discharged or removed.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective illustrating the invention as applied to a dispensing bar;

Fig. 2, a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, an enlarged fragmentary perspective of the discharge end of the device; and

Fig. 4, a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

With continued reference to the drawing, a dispensing bar H) with a counter H is shown in Fig. 1 having a dispensing unit with three spigots I2, a perforated drain 13 on the counter top and a drain tray I 4 secured to the back of the counter. Drain l3 and drain tray 14 may communicate with a suitable drain pipe (not shown) within the dispensing bar 10.

The lower portion of the dispensing bar it which is adapted to hold and cool bottled drinks is provided with a plurality of covers l5 for providing access to the bottles.

Attached to the back of the counter H on either side of the dispensing unit are a pair of similar bottle opening devices l6 and 56 constructed in accordance with the present invention.

As shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3, the

bottle opening devices are preferably formed of two pieces of sheet metal H and i8 suitably spot welded or otherwise secured at 19. The two pieces I! and !8 may, of course, be integrally formed of one sheet of metal bent over at the top, but the two piece welded construction is simpler to manu-- facture. 3

Piece I! has a Vertical wall portion 20 which is secured to the back of the-counter by a screw threaded fastener or the like 2|, a horizontal bottom portion 22 extending outwardly from the bottom of the vertical portion 29 and a vertical side portion 23 extending upwardly from the outer edge of the horizontal portion 22. An end wall 24 may be integrally formed and bent upwardly at one end of the horizontal portion 22, or may be a separate piece suitably secured thereto.

At the end of horizontal portion 22 opposite end wall 24 is mounted an end wall 25 which may be integrally formed or pivotally mounted on the horizontal portion 22 to complete the receptacle 26 for bottle caps. In the preferred form, shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the end wall 25 is pivotally connected to horizontal portion 22 by hinges 2'! and is maintained normally in 'an upright position preferably by resilient means such as spring 26, or a suitable catch (not shown) may be provided to hold end wall 25 in a closed position.

Piece I8 has a vertical portion 29 and a portion 30 which is bent outwardly and upwardly from the bottom of vertical portion 29 to form an elongated trough 3! whose function will be described subsequently.

Along the outer edge of portion 39 is formed a substantially U-shaped bottle cap engaging hook 32 which extends downwardly and inwarclly.

Piece or member It may be extended beyond one end of piece I! as shown in phantom at i;

one end of piece 18 in Fig. 1 so as to project over the drain tray 14 for a purpose to be described.

In the operation of the device a bottle 33 is removed from the dispensing bar by opening the proper cover i5 and the cap 35; inserted in the hook 32 as shown in Fig. 2 at any convenient point along the counter. It is obvious that a large number of dispensers may work behind the counters opening and serving customers without interfering with each other.

The receptacle 26 formed by piece 6'! and end walls 24 and 25 will hold the bottle caps removed over a long period of time and will obviate the necessity of cleaning out the usual number of small containers during a rush period. When the receptacle 25 is filled, or when it is convenient to clean it out, the bottle caps are pushed from one end adjacent fixed end wall 2d toward the pivoted end wall 25 which will be forced outwardly and depressed to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3. The bottle caps can be caught in any convenient container and thrown away.

The trough 3! extends along substantially the entire length of counter i I except for the portion occupied by the dispensing unit. Particularly during rush periods a large amount of liquid is spilled on the counter top and drains into trough 3| or drain tray I i. If the piece it; is extended to project over the drain tray Hi all of the liquid will be carried oil into the drain pipe (not shown) within the dispenser bar it.

The bottle opening device 16 may be made similar to the device it but with the fixed end wall 29' at the opposite end adjacent drain tray i l, the pivoted end wall (not shown) at the other end, and the trough projecting over the drain tray 14.

While the invention is illustrated as applied to a counter, it is of course intended for use in connection with a cabinet of any desired construction employed in the refrigeration and dis pensing of bottled drinks. Further, the bottle opener may be employed without the receptacle for the caps, as such will serve as a drainage channel or trough as well as a reinforcing and supporting element for the article in which it is mounted.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention Without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore this invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing or disclosed in the specification but only as indzlcated in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a bottled drink dispensing bar provided with a drain, the improvement which comprises a combined bottle opener and bottle cap receiver including a longitudinally extending and elongated rigid member formed from sheet material and including a vertically disposed rear portion adapted to be secured to the bar and having integral intermediate and front portions, said intermediate portion extending angularly outwardly and upwardly from said rear portion and providing therewith a horizontally disposed trough, said front portion extending angularly rearwardly and downwardly and having a free longitudinal edge spaced forwardly of the plane of said rear portion, and a bottle cap receptacle depending from said vertically disposed rear portion, said receptacle including substantially vertically disposed front and rear walls and bottom and end wall structure, at least one of said end walls being hingedly secured to said bottom wall for ready removal of bottle caps from said receptacle, the vertically disposed rear wall of the receptacle being of substantially greater hei ht than the remaining walls and having the upper extremity thereof fixedly mounted upon the elongated rigid member and depending therebeneath, the distance between the front face of said vertically disposed rear wall and the free longitudinally disposed edge of said rigid member being sufficient to receive the top of a bottle therebetween to permit the ready removal of the bottle cap and gravitation thereof into said receptacle, said elongated rigid member being secured to said bar in slightly downwardly inclined angular relationship so that an extremity of the horizontally disposed trough provided between the rear and intermediate p 'ticns of said elongated member discharges into the drain of said bar, preventing the dripping of any liquid from the bar into the receptacle.

HOWARD B. TRIMBLE, SR. COBURN D. BERRY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 943,759 Vaughan Dec. 21, 1909 1,029,645 Vaughan June 18, 1912 1,684,285 McDonald Sept. 11, 1928 2,029,804 Williamson Feb. 4, 1936 2,506,450. Grey May 2, 1950 2,506,732 Murphy May 9,1950

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 296,593 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1928' 

